Wesley Snipes Begins Serving 3-Year Prison Stint

By PopEater / Wire Services Posted Dec 9th 2010 01:00PM

Wesley Snipes began serving a three-year sentence at a federal prison in Pennsylvania on Thursday for failure to file income tax returns. Snipes, 48, arrived shortly before noon at the Federal Correctional Institution McKean in the tiny northwestern Pennsylvania town of Lewis Run, federal prisons spokesman Ed Ross said. He had been ordered to surrender by noon.

The minimum security prison camp is worlds away from the harsh prison fortresses depicted in the Snipes' films 'Undisputed' and 'Brooklyn's Finest.' The minimum-security camp doesn't have fences around its perimeter.

The 300 nonviolent inmates live in barracks that feature two-man rooms, daily showers and double-feature movie showings Friday through Sunday. Alas, no NC-17, R or X ratings allowed, which knocks out much of Snipes' action-heavy repertoire.

The most jarring aspect of the celebrity's stay might be the five daily head counts, three during the overnight hours. And Snipes, who earned a reported $13 million for the 'Blade: Trinity' sequel, will have to adjust to earning just pennies an hour handling kitchen, laundry or other campus chores. He can spend just $290 a month at the prison commissary.

Snipes has appeared in dozens of studio films, from 'White Men Can't Jump' and 'Demolition Man' in the early 1990s to the blockbuster Blade trilogy.

None of which will score him any points at McKean, officials insist.

"We recognize that he is high profile, but we treat all our inmates the same," spokeswoman Shirley White told The Associated Press last week.

According to U.S. prosecutors, the actor failed to file any tax returns for at least a decade, and owed $2.7 million in taxes on $13.8 million in income from 1999 to 2001 alone.

Snipes, a dues-paying member of a tax-protest group that challenges the government's right to collect taxes, described himself at his 2008 sentencing as a naive truth-seeker.

"I am an idealistic, naive, passionate, truth-seeking, spiritually motivated artist, unschooled in the science of law and finance," said Snipes, who had pursued theater and dance from an early age, attending the vaunted High School for the Performing Arts in New York City.

Tuesday night, he told CNN's "Larry King Live" that he was not nervous about reporting to prison.

On Wednesday, he made a last-minute request for a new trial. In the emergency motion, Snipes said that the judge erred by not allowing defense attorneys to interview jurors about misconduct allegations.

At McKean, if he reports as scheduled, he can pursue his spirituality at weekly meetings of nearly any religious group imaginable, from Wiccans to Jehovah's Witnesses to Spanish-speaking Evangelical Catholics.

The martial-arts enthusiast can get his exercise playing sand volleyball or indoor basketball, or work out on an elliptical machine or stair climber. And he can tap into his fun side through badminton, bocci or bridge.

Should he pull a muscle in a pickup game, the infirmary copay is just $2.

But it's not all fun and games.

The daily wake-up call is at 6:35 a.m. The mundane jobs run seven hours a day. There's little fashion flair to the prison-issued khakis. And contact in the visitors room is limited to "a kiss," according to the prison handbook.

Snipes has tried to delay his arrival while he takes his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. But the trial judge said he had gotten a fair trial.

U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges saw in Snipes "a history of contempt" for U.S. tax laws, the judge said at sentencing.

Never mind that the actor, changing course, had delivered $5 million in checks to the IRS that day. Hodges imposed consecutive one-year terms for the three misdemeanor convictions.

"Someday, every fighter loses," says the prison boxer Monroe Hutchens, played by Snipes, in 2002's "Undisputed." "In the end, everybody gets beaten. The most you can hope for is that you stay on top a while."

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Tags: Wesley Snipes

Comments

(137)

Thursday 09 December

By xh45forever

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West should not have any problem,don't forget it is a white collar crime.He can always get out in a few months.After all federal prison is not JAIL(hard)time he can keep investing the rest of his monie along with Madoff aka JUDAS.

By dave

Highest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

You call 26 months in jail and 6 months in HH a few months?

By jms2161

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

Hey, if they serve watermelon, maybe he'll want to stay there for awhile! jms

Friday 10 December

By Random Dude

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You are an uniformed person. I did 7 years in federal prison and watched several people die. Federal prison is very real, he is one mistake from that environment even if he is in a camp. And in the Feds, you do 85% of your time if you make zero mistakes, there is no getting out in a few months.

By Bill

Why does Snipes go to prison, while Charlie Rangel gets a scolding?

By cmckeethen

Why was Wesley Snipes sentenced cosecutively instead of concurrently?

By Bryon

Because your busy writting on this blog when you shouuld be writting your Senator! If you do, also include the new immigration law they are trying to get past us!

By Mr. Leo

He should NOT be going away for 3 years while Rangel strolls around the capital acting all "justified" THIS IS SO WRONG!

By speech

SNIPES HAS MADE MILLIONS IN HIS CAREER AND LIVED THE LIFE VERY VERY FEW COULD EVER DREAM; NO SYMPATHY HERE - HE SHOULD HAVE PAID HIS M F TAXES !! STUPID STUPID STUPID

By Glen

Rangel said he "made a mistake" while Snipes was aa member of a group who refused to pay taxes. But after he gets out, if Obama is still President, he has a chance to be Treasury Secretary or some other cabinet job...

By Don Carpenter

Wesley should have stood up and used his platform to call for universal tax resistance, since that is what he believes in. He would gain much more credibility if he had done so.

By bullnitty

Now he can save his money.

By Nate

Justice finally served! You can't dodge this bullet Snipes!

By don Oberloh

Bet the judge is white! (yes and so am I)

By r74002

The justice system is "BULL***T"!!!! I've seen far worst things done by celebrities and still still they do no time in jail or they are out within weeks! Make him pay what he owes and call it a day! Why lock him up for 3 years because of his belief's! REALLY? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Keep your head up brother snipes!Bless you and your family! GOOD LUCK & HOPE TO SEE YOU BACK IN THE GAME WHEN YOU GET OUT!

By ME64250

WORD! Like someone posted earlier, "So let him go earn and let us take it away. That would hurt HIM more than it would hurt US by him sitting in jail and US paying the tab." But this is the way many americans want to see people of color, in jail. Those are the one's that are so scared they could she-at a bowling ball!

By leo4120

This is a load of crap, did it ever occur to anyone that this is exactly what they did to Martha Stewart, remember. Both cases non violent everyday people 1st time offenders and they get prison. Somethings rotten in Denmark. How can they randomly just decide that; you know it's time to set another example and they roll the dice and then the next high profile case goes to prison. It wouldn't surprise me if the next example might be oohhhh I don't know maybe Zsa Zsa for lingering too long.

By Julio

We live in America. We pay taxes in America. He had no problem earning millions of dollars in America. He needs to pay taxes like everyone else. Hold your head high you said? He should be setting a good example and not behaving like a crook that he is.

By s devine

Don't get me wrong...I love his movies BUT wtf people. Who cares who got off. The question is if it was YOU!

By ken

I'm a white guy who thinks this is BS. Let him pay back taxes while he works!!! He's not a Charlie Rangle who was paid buy the public…. Let him goes back to work and repay his debt. Prison is for the politicians… See, a white guy for the black man and I;m a republican!!! Stop letting the lying Democrats from keeping black people down!!!! Hey, Calif has been Dems forever and where is the black man getting any better? I work with some friggen smart blacks who made it on their own and are doing great and I have to answer to them, no problem because they got what it takes without the help of the libs!! All my GOP friends think the way I do. Don't listen to the lies of the left. It's an honor to have the bosses who are black leading our team…..

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